The Minister said all this while sucking on the stem of his pipe, sending up soft blue smoke.  He had a leisurely way of talking.

Knowing that he was an anthropologist, I asked him to speak about racial factors in the present conflict.

Denman said, “History and legend tell us that the whole of central Vietnam, including the highlands in the old times, belonged to the Thuong people, whose capital was bordered by the coast on the eastside, thus probably indicating the present city of Nha Trang.  The tribal elders reiterate that the land of their ancestors spread to the rising sun.  This territorial extent existed until the last of their kings fell passionately in love with a Vietnamese princess of the north, and married her.  The princess became involved in a plot that destroyed the king.  Thereupon, the Thuong people became desolate, having no one to lead them, and were cruelly driven into the jungle by the Kinh, where until the present they have led a miserable life.”

The imaginative character of my mind was strongly stimulated by such a tragic but romantic past of a people brought to ruin by a king’s passion for a woman.  Vaguely, I half listened to Davis who asked Dr. Denman about the state of newly built hamlets for the Thuong.

Author NGO THE VINH in the Vietnam central highlands, 1970 [second from right]

Dr. Denman shook his head in a show of exasperation.  “The Thuong are mentally looked down upon and they suffer ruthless economic exploitation.  Most of them hate to be pulled into the social environment of the Vietnamese.  Having lived their lives freely in the natural environment of mountains and forests, they are now forced to concentrate in villages and hamlets built by the government.  Such resettlement is not only an unwelcome change in lifestyle, but their security is by no means guaranteed in those new constructions.  Every night, the communists stealthily come to threaten them, and rob them of their food.

“But if they were to try to free themselves from both the government and the communist sides by escaping to the forest and building their own hamlets, they would become targets for the government air force to mercilessly drop bombs upon.

“In short, they have nothing left, likely not even the future survival of their ethnic integrity and identity.”

This was a dark picture of Kinh versus Thuong presented by the Minister.

After tapping the bowl of his pipe against a wooden tray, he pressed his lips together tightly, then exhaled clouds of blue smoke.  He possessed the leisurely manner of the traditional East, which exhibits no hint of the hurriedness prevalent in modern city life.  Contrary to the image of him I had drawn in my mind, he appeared gentle and guileless.  I noticed that the shoulder wound had healed.

The Minister continued his discourse in a confiding tone.  “Since the time that the program for pacification of the highlands fell into the hands of Americans, many things have improved.  Very much unlike the Vietnamese, the Thuong get along well with white Caucasian soldiers.  They trust that these foreign military men will defend them.  In fact, when talking with me, Thuong leaders express their belief that after demise of the French, the Americans can help them rebuild an autonomous highlands region.  This is their own aspiration, and I have no comment to make.

“It’s curious, however, that Vietnamese appear to be very sensitive to racial issues like the problems between blacks and whites in the United States, yet they themselves seem not to recognize a similar mark of shame right in their own nation, where there is no shortage of ugly oppressions.  And in that vein, the Americans’ help for the Thuong has been considered a violation of Vietnam’s sovereignty or an interference with her internal affairs.  I, myself, can’t understand this.” NEXT

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